Dideriksen goes four for four at Danish Track Championships

4 December 2016

Road world champion Amalie Dideriksen added four Danish track titles to her crowded palmares on the weekend. The 20-year-old raced the sprint and points race on Saturday and the 3000 metre individual pursuit and scratch race on Sunday. From four races, she snagged four wins, adding to the omnium title she won last month.

“I always try to do nationals when I’m home in Denmark,” Dideriksen explained. “Last year, I was on a training camp and wasn’t able to race. I’m happy I could do them this year and then fly to team camp tonight. A national title is always special.”

To say Dideriksen dominated the weekend would be an understatement. She took a commanding victory in every race. While the fields are admittedly small in Denmark, her consistency across events is impressive.

Dideriksen gave a brief run-through of each of her races:

In the sprint: “I qualified with the fastest time in the 200 metre sprint. That brought me to the semi-finals, which I won in two heats, qualifying for the final. The final I also won in two heats.”

In the points race: “I decided to focus on winning the sprints and not taking laps because we had a sprint every five laps (every 1250m). I succeeded in winning every sprint.”

In the 3000 metre individual pursuit: “In the qualifying heat, I knew I only had to set the second fastest time to go to the final, so I didn’t go full gas. With a pretty tight schedule, our final came really fast after the qualifying heat, and it was all about beating the girl on the other side. Although it’s nice to do a fast time, the time didn’t actually matter, but it’s nice to do a fast time anyway. I improved my qualifying time a lot and did a new national record on Danish ground.”

In the scratch race: “It was a very tactical race with all of us looking at each other. It came down to a sprint, which I won.”

With the Olympics a major focus in 2016, Dideriksen spent much of the first part of the year on track camps and racing World Cups rather than racing on the road. In the upcoming season, she’s committed to a full road schedule and will sit out the 2016/2017 World Cups and the 2017 Track World Championships. Still, she sees value in racing on the track.

“I’m using the track races as training this winter,” said Dideriksen. “I’m not training on the track. I’m only doing races. At this time of the year, it’s good intervals. It can be hard to the same kind of efforts on the road in cold weather – and it’s good for my head. It motivates me.”

Dideriksen is now Switzerland-bound to join her teammates on a ski vacation that precedes the first team camp of the season in Calpe, Spain.

“I have one more track race, but that’s in January,” said Dideriksen. “I have the training camps with the team now, which I’m really looking forward to.”